Tesla’s Gigafactory — whistleblower suit complicates New Mexico’s bid

For months, New Mexico officials have been trying to convince Tesla Motors to build the electric automaker’s $5 billion battery factory in their state.

Which makes the timing of the scandal currently engulfing New Mexico’s economic development department particularly unfortunate.

A whistleblower lawsuit has accused top department officials of hiring a well-connected web developer without a contract and trying to cover it up. The suit also claims that a company co-founded by the department’s secretary, Jon Barela, secretly benefited from a New Mexico tax credit program.

The suit was filed by two former employees of the economic development department, one of them the department’s chief financial officer. Full a full description of the allegations, as well as a PDF of the complaint, check out this write-up in Mother Jones.

New Mexico is one of four states Tesla Motors has been eying as possible hosts for its Gigafactory, a $5 billion plant to mass produce lithium-ion batteries for the company’s electric cars. The others are Arizona, Nevada and Texas. All are anxiously awaiting Tesla’s decision, which could come soon. (Oh, and California officials are lobbying to get on the Palo Alto company’s short list, although Tesla CEO Elon Musk has warned it’s a long shot.)

Tesla has some very specific site selection criteria for the factory. The company needs a large pool of skilled workers, since the Gigafactory will eventually employ 6,500 people. Tesla wants the plant to rely heavily on renewable power, so access to wind farms and solar power plants is a plus. So is open land where the company could construct its own renewable generation if needed. And of course, locations that can easily ship batteries to Tesla’s Fremont auto plant have a leg up.

Given the company’s requirements, it seems unlikely that a lawsuit like this would be a deal-breaker should Tesla executives decide they really want to build in New Mexico. But with each state making a strong pitch to host the plant, it certainly doesn’t help.